The Protection Detail
by ssbailey
Summary: Post "Phoenix".  Alex and Thom as send undercover as a married couple to protect a Senator's daughter, but, as always with Division, nothing is what it seems.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Nikita.**

**A/N: So after watching "Phoenix" I started to wonder if Division had a policy on recruits dating other recruits (well Thom is an agent now, but that's beside the point. LOL). We **_**know **_**agents can't date recruits because of what was said about Michael/Nikita. Which lead me to come up with this story on what could happen if Thom and Alex's "relationship" was discovered. Please review and let me know what you think and if I should continue. :)**

"Sir, do you have a moment?" Amanda asked, entering Percy's office. "It's about one of the recruits."

"Let me guess. It's Alex, _again_." Percy said knowingly. Alex was a strong recruit, but if she wasn't careful she'd been on her way to being canceled before her training ended. She needed to learn to reel in her emotions, or she would never been an effective field agent. "What has she done this time? Is Michael involved?"

"No, not Michael, but another male field agent _is _involved." She informed, moving to stand in front of his desk. "Birkhoff caught them together on the security camera in the weapons room last night. We then decided to check the feeds from the cameras in their rooms and found that this field agent and Alex were involved back when he was still a recruit as well."

"Well who is it, Amanda?" He asked, irritated. "The recruits all know that intimate interaction between recruits is forbidden. Obviously whoever it is was promoted too early and must be dealt with."

"It's Thom. He's the agent who took out the Russian spy for his first mission the other night." Amanda sighed, pushing some of her hair behind her ear. "But I think we need to know just how close they are, and how far they're willing to go for each other before we discipline them. We don't need another Michael and Nikita situation on our hands."

"True." He conceded. "What do you suggest, Amanda?"

"Send them undercover as a married couple." She offered, "It'll give us a chance to see how they operate together, and we do need two agents working undercover for a protection detail in Boston now that Senator Conant has hired us to protect his daughter while she attends law school at Yale."

"Would it not be better to have Alex befriend the girl while Thom starts a relationship with her?"

"Normally, I would say agree that that would be the better plan of action, however, Laurel Conant married a Boston defense lawyer named Nick Schaffer in April. They met doing charity work at the local pro bono agency." She informed, handing over the file of information they had collected on Laurel Conant and her husband.

"How charming." Percy scoffed, opening the file. "So your plan is to send Alex and Thom in as a newly married couple who are moving into the home next door to the Schaffer's?"

"Yes, sir" She nodded, "We also plan to send Thom in as a new associate at the law firm Schaffer works for. Dillon, Hart, and Pierce."

"And what about Alex?"

"Why Percy, you know how hard it is for new mother's to work." Amanda smiled conspiratorially. "At your green light Birkhoff is set to create a birth certificate for a two month old bouncing baby boy."

"Oh I like the way you think Amanda. Have we secured a child for the mission?"

"A baby boy was abandoned by his mother on the steps of St. Agatha's this morning. He's in medical being checked out as we speak." She confirmed, "All there's left to do is for you to set this into motion."

"Tell Birkhoff to set everything up. " Percy decided, handing her back the folder. "And Amanda?"

"Yes?" She asked, hand on the door handle leading out of his office.

"Michael is to have no idea that we will be watching Thom and Alex interact. As far as he's concerned this is just another mission. Understood?"

"Understood."

* * *

"You'll be going undercover together" Michael informed Alex and Thom as they sat across from him at the conference table. He knew Percy was up to something, Alex and Thom were not ready to be on their own as a protective detail, but until he knew exactly what was happening he had to let things play out. "As a married couple by the names of Thomas and Alexa Kilpatrick."

"What?" Alex burst out, her eyes widening. "I'm sorry, it's just that I've only been a recruit for six months. Why are they sending me out with Thom? Why not another female field agent?"

Thom just stared at a spot on the wall. He had been happy that he and Alex would be undercover together out there in the real world when Michael first told him, but now that he knew she wasn't he wasn't looking forward to the mission in the slightest.

"There are no other female field agents available right now, and we need someone who already has a background with Thom so that no one suspects that you two are not actually married with a child." Michael sighed, he'd known Alex would react this way the minute Amanda had approached him with this mission.

"Wait, you never said anything about us having a child." Thom interrupted, his full attention on his boss. "All you said was that we were supposed to go under as a married couple to protect Senator Conant's daughter."

"The child is to help solidify your cover. We need Alex to have a reason that she doesn't work, and it would be too suspicious for you to suddenly start working at the husband's law firm and Alex to suddenly be in all of Laurel Conant's classes." The older agent informed, "The child is a two month old baby who was abandoned by his parents this morning, in reality. Now, thanks to Birkhoff, he's officially your son as far as the world is concerned. You're the proud new parents of a little boy named Ian Thomas Kilpatrick."

"But I have no idea how to take care of a baby" Alex argued, glancing at Thom. "So unless Thom here was a nanny in a former life how are we supposed to pull off being parents?"

"New parents are traditionally horrible the first few months. You're expected to be bad at it." Michael said, passing the two their folders containing their new identities. "You leave for Boston in an hour. The house next door to Laurel Conant and her husband has been secured and movers are there as we speak setting up the house. Everything you need will be there, and Division has given you access to a bank account with a hundred thousand dollars in it. If you run out, call the first number on the speed dial on the cell phones you've been given and pretend to be ordering a pizza. Birkhoff will be on the other end of the line and will wire you the money you need. The next hour is yours to spend learning about your cover lives, I suggest you use it."

Alex went to speak, but Thom interrupted her before she could. "Thank you sir."

"You're welcome, agents. See you when you get back." Michael nodded, leaving them alone together.

"Why did you stop me from talking to him?" Alex fumed once she was sure they were alone, "You know something has to be up. Why would they send a recruit and a brand new field agent out _alone _to work a protection detail. Not to mention that now we have a baby to take care of!"

"Maybe they're just giving us a chance to prove ourselves." Thom said dismissively. "And you and I both know that if we get into trouble all we have to do is make a call and Division will back us up. We won't be alone."

"And what about the baby?"

"How hard can it be? All you have to do is change its diaper and feed it, right?" He shrugged, "Besides it says in my folder that I don't start work at the law firm until a week after we go under so you won't be alone with the baby right at first. Everything will be fine, I promise. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Alex."

Alex smiled shyly, "Thanks. But then what about you?"

"You'll have my back." He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We can do this, you know we can."

Taking one of his hands, she looked into his eyes as if searching for something. When she finally found what she was looking for, she smiled brightly. "Okay, but let's get one thing straight. You ever call me babe, honey, or any of those other annoying names I'll kill you in your sleep. Got it?"

Thom laughed, "Whatever you say Mrs. Kilpatrick."

**A/N: So…what do you think? Good? Bad? Ugly?**


End file.
